DICK BAGGETT: Send workers home for H1N1

SAN ANGELO, Texas - Last time, we introduced the tool kit on “Doing Business During an Influenza Epidemic.” It is a collaborative work between the Society for Human Resource Management, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy of the University of Minnesota.

We discussed some of the steps employers would need to take in a sudden H1N1 scenario. Today we are going to discuss steps employers are recommended to consider in a pandemic situation to deal with employee absenteeism.

Should a serious pandemic scenario occur, one of the best control and response steps is to do the opposite of what we normally do when employees are sick. In pandemic situations, it is best to keep sick employees away from work, without penalties for legitimate absences. The normal employee sick and absence response is to encourage employees to come to work if possible or demand a doctor’s excuse for their absence.

Simply put, THAT WON’T WORK IN A PANDEMIC SITUATION.

So that gets us to business’s usual leave of absence policies. There are three CDC recommendations that underscore the pressure to review policies in light of the extraordinary challenges posed by an influenza pandemic. These three recommendations are:

1. Allow sick employees to stay home without fear of losing their jobs.

2. Allow employees to stay home to care for sick family members.

3. Temporarily waive requirements for doctors’ notes.

The CDC is strongly recommending employers allow sick workers to stay home without fear of losing their jobs. Additionally, CDC recommends employers plan for these two scenarios:

1. If the severity of illness remains similar to that of the spring 2009 outbreak and

2. If the virus causes more severe illness, in which absenteeism is likely to be more widespread and public health officials invoke more restrictive measures such as school and child care closures.

Regarding the standard operating requirement for a doctor’s note when an employee is absent from work, the CDC says the following:

Do not require a doctor’s note for workers who are ill with influenza-like illness to validate their illness or to return to work.

The doctors’ offices and medical facilities may be extremely busy and may not be able to provide such documentation in a timely way.

Unnecessary congestion at medical facilities during these events will result in less medical care being provided to patients in critical conditions.

In addition, the CDC advises all employees to stay home if they are sick until the following conditions exist: at least 24 hours after the person no longer has a fever (100 degrees Fahrenheit or 38 degrees Celsius) or at least 24 hours after the signs of a fever (chills, feeling very warm, have a flushed appearance, or sweating) have gone.

It is important to make sure the fever is gone without the use of fever-reducing medicines (any medicine that contains ibuprofen or acetaminophen).

It is recommended by the CDC that should flu conditions become more severe, employers should extend the time sick employees may stay home to at least seven days. Also, should people still be sick after seven days, they should continue to stay home until at least 24 hours after symptoms have gone away, even if they feel better sooner.

Another wise and helpful technique is for businesses to have an understanding of their normal, historical seasonal absenteeism rates. Then, the business can monitor employee absences and note any unusual increases in absenteeism through the fall and winter. This can tell an employer if a pandemic situation is about to occur in their workplace.

This column is provided by Dick Baggett, SPHR, of RGB Human Resource Solutions LLC, who can be reached at dbaggett@wcc.net.